Sun Life Stadium renovations to benefit fans, football

The renovations mean 75 percent more shade for fans, and seats closer to the field. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez says taxpayers won't be on the hook for the project, with Dolphins Owner Steve Ross saying the renovations will take two years.

The renovations mean 75 percent more shade for fans, and seats closer to the field. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez says taxpayers won't be on the hook for the project, with Dolphins Owner Steve Ross saying the renovations will take two years.

It's the beginning of a modern setting better suited to football and its fans.

The Dolphins provided the first glimpse Friday into the dramatic makeover that will turn the 27-year-old facility into something as good as new over the next two years.

"I think the big winner is Miami. We're really trying to create one of the great sports entertainment facilities in the United States today," Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross said at a project unveiling. "Everything we're doing is taking the existing structure that's there and making it feel and look like it's a brand-new stadium."

While the $400 million renovation, being funded by Ross, is expected to help in attracting Super Bowls, college football championships and other big events to the stadium, the main benefit will be to those who regularly come to watch the Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes.

See photos of the nearly-completed, $500 million renovations at the Miami Dolphins' stadium in Miami Gardens.

By the time fans see it again, all of those familiar orange seats will be replaced by a fresh sea of aqua, in some cases padded and wider than the originals. Since the end of the Dolphins season, seats in the endzones have been removed in the first phase of restructuring the lower bowl to bring the stands closer to the action. That will be completed before the first exhibition game in August.

The addition of a canopy roof over the seating areas during the second phase of reconstruction in 2016 will provide a shield from sun and rain, making it easier to cope with those sizzling afternoons that extend well into the football season.

Dolphins President and CEO Tom Garfinkel said that 92 percent of the crowd will be in the shade during games, whereas now only 17 percent are under cover. The field will continue to be natural grass.

The seating capacity will decrease from 76,018 to 65,326. A larger percentage of seats will be in the lower bowl than in the present configuration.

Most important, they will be closer to the field. The grandstand is being reconstructed to reach 24 feet closer to each sideline.

The hope is this will create a more intimate setting that has been missing since the teams left the Orange Bowl.

"I remember back in the Orange Bowl, that was something that was always an advantage for us," former quarterback Dan Marino, now a special advisor to Ross, said. "That's something I could see with the seats coming closer."

The problem with the stadium is it was designed for too many uses. Former Dolphins owner Joe Robbie not only wanted to make it suitable for football and soccer but also to accommodate baseball. While that succeeded in luring Major League Baseball to South Florida, reconfiguring the stadium in the early 1990s for the expansion Marlins made it less suitable for its primary purpose.

While the Marlins won two World Series at Sun Life, the confines were never friendly for baseball. Fans fried on sizzling Sunday afternoons and got simmered and soaked on steamy summer nights.

Meanwhile, football fans complained that the excitement and ambience they enjoyed at the Orange Bowl was lacking.

Garfinkel said producing a more dynamic environment was a prime objective in the redesign.

"One of the goals was to try to make it as loud as we can," Garfinkel said. "With the roof canopy, it actually bounces the sound back down. It will be a very loud environment in here when the fans are loud. And that was important. I don't know that we can ever duplicate or replicate the environment at the Orange Bowl … but certainly to try to make this as intimate and loud as we can was something we took a very hard look at."

Ross recalled being a guest of Robbie at the first exhibition game when the stadium opened in 1987.

"He really did create a great facility, and I'm really honored now to take it to the next level," Ross said.

Among the amenities to be added during the second year of construction will be giant high-definition video boards in the four corners of the upper bowl and a state-of-the-art sound system.

The club level will be remodeled, the upper concourse will be overhauled with a focus on improving quality and options at the food concessions. There will be some table seating in the corners of the 100 level and a luxury club will be built.

"We took tours of the new stadiums and saw what people really want today," Ross said. "The type of amenities that people expect: a lot of technology, a lot of private clubs, a lot of choices. It's harder to bring people to stadiums. You have to really make it a reason for people to want to come."

Ross said he has already begun lobbying fellow owners for the next available Super Bowls — the NFL will award the 2019 and 2020 games in May 2016 — with the objective to bring three to five in the next 20 years.

"They can't really commit that, but they want it. What better place? This is the best weather in the United States at Super Bowl time. The sponsors and league officials know that Miami is really the preferred choice of most of them," Ross said.

The Dolphins will receive $4 million for every Super Bowl played at the stadium through an agreement with Miami-Dade County for performance-based subsidies for hosting major events that boost tourism. The team is also seeking funding assistance from the state through a new sales tax subsidy available for stadium improvements.

Garfinkel said the Dolphins will be pursuing a new long-term naming rights partner, so the new and improved stadium will get another name by the time construction is completed in 2016, if not sooner.

Soccer figures prominently in the modernization plan — he said the plan is to pursue international events, including the World Cup — as do concerts. Garfinkel said there have already been talks with prominent performers about doing a series of resident artist-type concerts on a stage set up during football offseasons.

"We're going to be aggressive and try to bring as many marquee events here as we can," Garfinkel said. "The biggest concerts will be here, the biggest events in the world will be here. It really is going to be something to see for everybody in South Florida."